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U.S. senator rethinking gun laws

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Huge turnout for gun buyback

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Huge turnout for gun buyback01:46

Newtown's longstanding gun culture manifested itself as a family outing for Adam Lanza, 20, who authorities say shot and killed his mother -- who introduced him to target shooting -- before killing 20 children andsix adults at the elementary school and then taking his own life.

For several years, Lanza and his mother frequented several gun ranges in the area, according to federal authorities. That's nothing out of the ordinary in this Connecticut town, where shooting sports are a popular pastime.

"In Newtown right now, you can shoot any gun at anytime on your property," said town police commission member Joel Faxon.

The commission's attempt earlier this year to curb the city's lax attitude toward gun use was stonewalled by gun-control opponents in August, which Faxon said he couldn't understand.

"All we wanted to do was make sure that all the guns that are fired in Newtown are fired in a safe fashion and aren't going to injure anybody and aren't going to infringe on anybody else's property and create a danger," Faxson explained. "Even that safety-based solution was staunchly and vigorously opposed by gun rights individuals."

It shows just how sensitive the debate over gun control can be in Newtown -- and the nation. But what about now? Has the climate for gun control changed in the wake of Friday's horrible attack? Might Newton's gun culture change as a result of what happened at Sandy Hook Elementary?

"I would hope so," Faxon says. "The time has come now for people to be reasonable. It's unreasonable not to have a safety ordinance about where you're going to have a shooting range. If that can't pass, I mean, what CAN pass?"

Gun-control opponents say even small restrictions represent a slippery slope that threatens Second Amendment constitutional rights.

"You can make as many laws as you want it will NOT change people who want to hurt others," said CNN commenter Steve Lahey. "We all need to arm ourselves now. That is the only way."

Another CNN commenter, Hector Rodriguez, disagrees. He suggests the nation should "start by banning all assault weapons. You don't need them unless you want to be the next mass shooter!"

These comments and other similarly entrenched positions on both sides of the debate show that gun rights are connected with deep-seated moral issues for many Americans, explained constitutional expert David Kopel.

"Just as some people believe there can be absolutely no restrictions on the First Amendment right of freedom of speech and of the press, some other people take a similar view to the Second Amendment about the right to bear arms," said Kopel of the Denver-based think tank Independence Institute. "At the other end of the spectrum, some advocates of gun prohibition view the idea of owning guns to defend yourself as intrinsically immoral."

In Washington, the gun-control issue has lain virtually dormant for years since a 1994 federal ban on semi-automatic assault rifles elapsed in 2004.

But that was before Friday.

Newtown has lit a legislative flame. Sen. Dianne Feinstein has vowed to introduce new legislation banning weapons such as the Newtown gunman's Bushmaster rifle.

"Six-year-olds with three to 11 bullets from this Bushmaster in their body. Twenty of them. Is this America? I don't think so," said Feinstein. "And I think these incidents are going to continue until we do something to change the supply mode of these weapons out in our society."

The California Democrat said her bill will propose banning "the sale, the transfer, the importation, and the possession" of such weapons.

A new ABC/Washington Post survey taken shortly after Friday's shooting in Newtown suggests that American attitudes are already shifting.

According to the survey, 44% of Americans now strongly support stricter gun laws, with 32% opposed. That's the first time in five years of ABC/Washington Post polling where significantly more people favor rather than oppose stricter gun-control measures.

And for the first time in surveys dating back to 2000, less than 50% of respondents said the best way to reduce gun violence is to enforce existing laws, a common mantra for those who oppose gun restrictions.

The number of people who say the best way to cut gun violence is to pass new laws has risen to 32%, the highest level in an ABC/Washington Post poll since 2000.